rjzeller

Picked it up from Greg yesterday and played it at a jazz rehearsal (lead) last night.

First day impressions:

Look: This horn looks beautiful. The brushed silver is quite attractive and the polished highlights make it stand out. One glance at this thing and it becomes clear that this is no off-the-shelf model. The heavy valve caps and heavy mouthpiece receiver are very nice. I do like the LOOK of the valves. I also like the rounded/elongated tuning crook.

Regarding Greg's comments, I must say that it looks just fine now. As for the comment about dings that come with a horn 2 years old, I think people might have read too much into that. My Renaissance is five years old now and has only a couple very, VERY small pings in the bell -- of the sort that you would not notice without a careful and thorough inspection of the horn.

That's kinda what the Phaeton had. Two, maybe three extreemly tiny pings that you have to feel more than see, and I think they only stand out because of the brushed finish -- they are shiny so they are easier to see. I've had brand new horns from the manufacturer show up in worse condition than this.

As for cleanliness -- it's perfect. Chalk that up to Greg's hard work cleaning the horn. Nice job Greg!

A final note about the finish -- I'm not sure if you'd want to look at other options -- I know it's gone through a lot of hands, but you can see some finish wear on the tubing just where it enters the valve block, and I think you would probably have to apply an extra-thick layer of silver. I'm not well versed on finishing techniques, but I can see this one wearing over (smoothing out) and possibly revealing the raw brass very easily. I must say, though, the look is just fantastic as it is right now.

Feel: I'm undecided here about whether I like the feel of this horn or not. It is definitely tighter than my Getzen large bore Renaissance, but not so tight that it's a bother. I will say this horn really takes off on you, and it'll take some time for me to settle into it. It is quite clear I cannot approach this thing the same way I do my Getzen. At least, not without drawing complaints from the trombone section.

The slotting is much better than my Getzen, and really holds its own in the upper registers. My high Fs and Gs were never so easy and strong, and it almost made me sad I can't keep this baby as a lead horn permanently.

However, I found it to be much less flexible than my Getzen, and over the course of the rehearsal the increased resistance began to wear just a bit. But to be fair, I had not played lead in several months, so I may just be out practice. I'll have a better feel for it next time.

It seemed a bit stuffy in the very low register, but again I think that has a lot to do with learning how to approach the horn. We'll see how it feels after a solid week of practices and gigs.

Sound: It really resonated last night, and sang beautifully. The trombone section gave me the "WOW" reaction several times last night. In a room that measures about 50'x100', I got some dandy echoes from the far wall. It definitely held the sound and resonated better than my Getzen, but could not quite give me the sizzle I expected. (It did come close, though).

In the middle registers and during more relaxed playing, the sound seemed more focused and round than my Getzen (hard to describe given the contradiction that's about to follow), but my Getzen still seemed darker and fuller to me. But this, I think, also requires more time on the horn to learn to approach it properly. I guess I'd say the Phaeton was warmer and more focused, while the Getzen sound was broader and bigger. If that makes sense.

Valves: I love the look, hate the feel. Now don't get me wrong here -- they are smooth, fast, and respond excellent. It's just that I prefer the lightning fast, buttery feel of my Getzen valves. The movement on my Getzen valves is completely effortless, whereas the Phaeton valves had a bit of a heavy feel to them. I hesitate to say sluggish, because they are not, but compared to the Getzen....

The look is great, and the recessed valve caps and short throw really do give them a good feel. If only they were lighter feeling....

All in all, though, I loved this horn. I'm trying to be as picky as I can because, well, isn't that kinda what this is for? I don't help anyone out if I just claim "great horn" and leave it at that.

I will say this much -- this is the first horn I've EVER played (no, I haven't tried the wild thing or monettes yet) that I actually like better than my current Getzen, and that's saying a lot. There are some hangups, but I think more time and familiarity with the horn will likely address many of these.

Z

trickg

Good review.

Something that I thought I would touch on - in my experience, EVERY trumpet blows differently and plays differently and many times I have experienced a honeymoon phase with a trumpet, only to actually hate it a week later.

This happened when I crunched the bell on my ML 37 Strad, and borrowed a friend's ML 37 Strad while my horn was out for repairs. (Although, oddly enough, once I got used to the other trumpet, when I got mine back, it was like I came home, and had no problems readjusting back to mine.)

It happened when I got rid of my ML 37 Strad for my LB 25 Strad.

It happened when I bought my Schilke B6.

In virtually evey instance, I went through phases where I liked the horn - then hated it for a variable length of time, and then got to where I really liked it again once I fully adapted to it. Along those same lines is the fact that it took a longer length of time to get used to than we are probably going to have for the review. It's almost like trying to adapt to a mouthpiece, only it doesn't take quite as long.

Anyway, I'm not surprised that there were both things that you liked and didn't like about it when you wrung it out for a rehearsal.

Again, good review.

Heavens2kadonka

Now, after Richard, comes the surprise tester.

I must email him and see if he's ready for it soon.

Van

gzent

I heard he is quite the 'Man'.

rjzeller

Just wanted to post a quick followup -- I've had it three days now and as others have submitted, it does grow on you. I only have two comments to make at this time, and I'll give a thorough review once I'm done with it.

1) The sound is quite nice. It's really growing on me. While I'm still having issues learning to enjoy the "feel" of this horn, the sound is very solid. I've had a hard time deciding if I like it better than my Getzen, but most other listeners do. It has a more solid or focused sound, more centered, whereas my Getzen tends to be a bit more broad. I hope that makes sense because it's the best description I can give. I guess I'd put it like this:

The sound from my Getzen is kinda like taking a bath in nice warm water -- it surrounds you, filling every nook and cranny, but doesn't really announce itself. You can see right through it, but it sure feels nice.

The sound from the Phaeton is kinda like taking a bath in nice warm melted chocolate -- it's a little heavier, you can't help but notice it, and while it may not be quite as clear, it sure does taste sweet!!

2) Intonation -- to be honest, and not to contradict Greg here, but I've actually found the intonation to be pretty decent for myself. I think the mouthpiece probably has a lot to do with it (as well as playing characteristics). To be fair, I didn't tune my middle C and go from there. I actually found the spot with the least resistance, and then adjusted my own playing until the C was in tune then went through the range and a lot of the notes just lined right up. Fs and As, notes that I'm chronically sharp on, came through quite well. The downside is that I had to focus the C a bit more.

Okay, so maybe I cheated a bit. If I had just tuned the middle C and gone from there, there would have been many sharp notes. But I mention this because I wonder if there maybe isn't a flaw in my approach to tuning my horns to begin with, and the Phaeton just woke me up to it. But when I try the same on my Renaissance, I really had to lip up the C, whereas once I settled into the Phaeton, the C locked in automatically.

OH -- one more thing, it seems no matter how I approach it, the high C is rediculously tight. While the horn opens up wonderfully from D-E-F-G above high C, and plays like smooth chocolate from about A on down, the B and C (especially C) are insanely tight and not as open and clean as I'd like them. It's so tight, that even with the biggest mouthpiece I own, I still found myself wanting to go to a D whenever I played C in my quintet rehearsal last night.

But hey -- it's only been three days, and now that I've used the chocolate analogy so much, I'm going to get a snack.....later.

NYTC

You know it.

cmcdougall

WHAT??? SUPRISE TESTER??????? I thought i was supposed to have the horn next, oh well, no bother, good things are worth waiting on.

Heavens2kadonka

Van

NYTC

Any more news?

rjzeller

Yes...sorry, I'm pretty much done testing and will get it cleaned -- I need to know where to send it next, Van...

I'll post more on my last thoughts at a later time, but here's the gist of it all:

This is a horn I really like, wanted to love, but just couldn't. Unlike some, I DO feel it's worth every bit of the price tag. The problem is simply consistency. While I liked the way it responds with so little effort, and while the tone is just fantastic, I couldn't get past two nagging issues:

1) The high B natural and high C just did not want to come out. They fight you at every turn. I could go to D-E-F with no problem, but the B and C were really tough to nail down. If I wanted a lead horn, It's GREAT, but not for more legit music that keeps me well below the extreem upper register.
2) Everything from low-B down had horrible intonation issues. I say this in light of the fact that I found it to be exceptional otherwise from low-C up. I played a quintet rehearsal with a tuner in front of me and except for Low-G and high-C, the needle hardly ever moved from center.

Those are my only two real concerns. The horn is gorgeous, and the rings, even though I don't like the looks, are SOOOO comfortable! This is a gem of a horn.

More detail tomorrow, for now, thank you very much for letting me enjoy this fine horn.

Z